Born this day

A successful businessman and Labour Party supporter, he became a member of the House of Lords in 1997. After his death, openly gay Lord Alli raised the issue of Montague's Japanese partner of 35 years, Takashi Sizuki, and the discriminatory provisions in ineritance tax law on same-sex couples compared to married couples.

Bhupen Khakhar (1934 – 2003) Indian
A leading artist in Indian contemporary art. He worked in Baroda, and gained international recognition for his work.

John Rechy (1934 – ) USA
Author and playwright, known for his award - winning gay fiction. At the presentation of the second of his two PEN lifetime achievement awards, Michael Bronski said, "[He] super-radically and forever altered how mainstream American. culture wrote about, saw, experienced, and conceptualized homosexuality... All of [his] novels are vital to both gay and American literature

Holly Hughes(1955 – ) US
Performance Artist / Playwright

Mitchell Lichtenstein(1956 – ) US
Actor / Producer / Director

Art Feltman (1958 – ) US
Politician

Chris Carter (1985 – ) Canadian
Actor / Screenwriter

Saint's day

St Anastasia the Patrician (or of Constantinople)
Cross-dressing, biologically female Christian saint who lived as a man to be admitted to a male monastery.

Died this day

Pat McDonald (1990 – 1921) Australian
Actress

Ian Campbell Dunn (1943 - 1998 ) UK
Activist

Sodomy in history, March

1778 — Lieutenant Frederick Enslin is drummed out of the army for attempted sodomy on a fellow soldier. His commanding officer is George Washington.

1845 — Florida prohibits anyone convicted of sodomy from being a witness in a trial, even though the state has a compulsory death penalty, meaning that anyone convicted isn’t likely to be around to testify.

1910 — The Nebraska Supreme Court rules that the "crime against nature" does not include oral sex.

1938 — A California appellate court rules that intoxication is no defense to a charge of sodomy.

1958 — The Montana Supreme Court overturns a sodomy conviction because penetration had not been proven.

1976 — The Arizona Supreme Court reverses a lower court ruling and upholds the constitutionality of the state’s sodomy law.